I would often watch "Smitty" rule from his desk in the 'D' yard office as I
waited for a dinky back home after arriving at Cicero. Also sat w/Smitty
several times at 'HY' while he made up the house 9 switch list and then head
over to 'D' yard. Smitty was one of those guys that you wished you had
recorded as the stories and knowledge were amazing. He really enjoyed his job
and "performing" for the road crews as we killed time. He once talked about
switching the old brewery that was on the curve at Canal St and the bonus
the crew would receive.
As to the foreign cabooses being held, here was what I saw and understand.
As Pete has mentioned transfers crews often "died under the law" and this
would often occur while stuck in a foreign yard waiting for an opening to go
down a clear alley and get your hack and head home. A foreign crew was the
last one moved as the cost was on the other road. So the foreign hacks
would be accumulated on the ice house tracks at 'D' yard along with the Q/BN
transfer w/cs. Sometimes the Q/BN transfer crew would take a foreign w/c on
their transfer as it was nicer than any home one. They weren't necessarily
going to that w/cs home yard. Needless to say a nice foreign w/c could hang
around for a while until the home road would make a point of getting it
back.
Leo Phillipp
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